Masters of Fashion use of real fur - comment

Below is an email that I have sent the director of the Masters of Fashion in regard to the use of real fur by one of their finalists. If anyone else attended this show at any one of the other locations and was equally upset with his flippant comment about fur, please send your objections to Mr Barton c/- Masters of Fashion, Rembrandts Restaurant, Burwood Hwy, Wantirna.

Dear Mr Barton,

I thoroughly enjoyed my evening at Rembrandts last Thursday night and your commentary was, as always, the highlight of the evening (I have been every year for around 6 years and always enjoy the show).

However, I was very disappointed this year to see that real fur has made an appearance at such an enjoyable event. I was quite sickened to think that this "fashion trend" is coming back into vogue and is being accepted by the Australian fashion industry and promoted to the Australian public. An innocent animal killed purely for its fur is not a fashion accessory and should not be publicly promoted as acceptable. I was also very disappointed with your comment that anyone who does not like real fur should "get over it". I would like to ask you Guy, what should I be getting over? Inhumane treatment? Violent & painful deaths? Innocent and unneccesary lives lost for a fleeting trend in fashion?

I understand that you have many years experience in the fashion industry and I do hope that the Masters of Fashion continues for many years to come promoting new designers. I do, however, ask that you encourage new designers to use their talents in design rather than attempting to attract attention through inappropriate methods. When real fur is no longer part of fashion, I'll be happy to then "get over it".

Karen
www.boingonline.com

poisonous plants

This is just a reminder to anyone who has companion rabbits to watch out when bringing plants or flowers into the house. Yesterday afternoon one of our bunnies jumped on the couch and climbed her way to a vase that was holding a hyacinth flower. She managed to eat a few of the florettes and when I did a search on the flower, found out it was poisonous.

Since rabbits cannot vomit, the poisonous plant was ingested. We fed her lots of juicy celery & pear afterwards to try & water it down. Fortunately, she is fine & there wasn't any ill effects (so far anyway).

Apparently it turns out that the bulb is the most poisonous of the hyacinth flower but the rest of the plant is also toxic but in larger quantities.

All I would like to suggest to anyone is not to tempt fate & keep all garden plants & flowers way out of reach of your bunnies!!!

Lily & Hugo

Lily & Hugo are now happily back together as a couple. They are the cutest & love each other very much, though it is fairly clear they are quite the destructive pair. They currently live in our brick studio & an area has been partitioned off with an old bed base. Separately, they didn't touch the bed, but together in one night they ate the entire end off the base & Hugo (who could double for Houdini) managed to squeeze himself inside, turn around & get himself out again (fortunately!). The whole thing is covered in protective wire now so they can't eat any of the contents!

A near miss! (twice)

Yesterday's cleaning frenzy almost caused two of my bunnies serious harm!!!

Princess was out and about running around & I had just moved a rather large folding table into our hallway & it was leaning against the wall. I left the room for a second & heard a huge bang. I came running back into the hallway to see the table flat on the floor & Princess right next to it. Princess must have missed being hit by the table by a millimetre!! That table is really heavy so I don't dare think of what would have happened to her if she was under it when it fell!!! She got lots of hugs & kisses last night I can tell you!!!!!

After Princess was safely back in her enclosure, I let Munchkin out for a run so I could clean her house. She was out for hours without any problem until I heard a scuffle. I ran to the loungeroom & found Dingle (who had jumped her barrier) & had attacked Munchkin (little Munchkin is tiny compared to Dingle aka Killer!). There was quite a bit of fur (black & white - Munchkin's white & Dingle's black) so Munchkin certainly got to fight back (good on ya Munchy!!). Fortunately, neither were hurt but Munchkin now has a rather large bald spot near her neck & possibly a bite (though no blood) so I will be keeping a very good eye on that in case of an abscess. Munchkin also received lots & lots of hugs & kisses but she was okay afterwards & leaping/prancing about without a care in the world.

Anyway, I did learn a couple of HUGE lessons from yesterday's cleaning frenzy! (1) always expect the unexpected (2) always shut everyone's doors when the other bunnies are out for a run (3) always be on the ball & (4) there are so many more fun things to do than clean!

Princess's spay

Princess was recently spayed two weeks ago & recovered amazingly well. It's always a worry when a female bunny is desexed as the operation is quite serious. However, even though she was a bit dopey in the evening she was happy eating & pooping as normal. She is, however, 7 months old and a large bunny so this makes a huge difference is how quickly they recover.

When our first girl bunny (Dingle) was desexed, it took 1 and a half years before we finally took the plunge. In that time, her girlie bits grew in size & the vet said it was quite an intricate operation to detach all the blood vessels etc. Dingle took much longer to recover as well.